Origin

It’s hardly new news, but DuVernay takes a very long time to spell it out.

There is a personal side to Wilkerson’s story that the director and cast skilfully interweave.

Bearing similar levels of gravity and substance to her Netflix documentary 13th, Origin is arguably DuVernay’s most emotionally complex work to date.

For all its flaws, however, Origin does have power as both didactic treatise and drama of recovery. There is something reassuring being said here about the restorative power of work.

This is the biography of a book... The fact that it works as well as it does, it's pretty remarkable.

The compelling Ellis-Taylor goes some way towards tying together the disparate elements. She is a magnetic, dignified presence, persuasive in both the more melodramatic elements of the story and in the academic journey.

Origin will go far in reaching those who seek to understand if there is indeed some unifying root cause for hatred and discrimination all across the world.

When is the right time to talk about race? Not just about racism, but what the term even means. How did it begin and how can it be ended? These are just a few questions tacked by Ava DuVernay's Origin.

The structure is unconventional, but rewarding. The sedimentary approach accumulates, can race with the speed of thought. It’s powerful stuff, moving with uncommon ferocity.

While it is deservedly praised for bringing deeply ingrained ideas to the fore about the role of caste in the evolution of worldwide injustice, it is sometimes a bit awkward in its telling.